The last game released by Ocean was GT 64: Championship Edition in 1998, for Nintendo 64.
Ocean acquired Digital Image Design in 1998, which was originally setup by Martin Kenwright (who later founded Evolution Studios with Ian Hetherington, an original founder of Psygnosis) when he was 28.
Ocean was acquired by the French software house, Infogrames, in 1998 for £100,000,000 and renamed to Infogrames UK. After the buyout, David Ward wanted development to remain in Manchester, but Infogrames moved the company headquarters to London. Ward nows works in Infogrames former offices in Manchester, which are now owned by iFone (a wireless entertainment company), of which he is the chairman.
Their address is:
Castlefield
Manchester
M3 4SW
(Road Map)Lancashire
Tel: 0161 827 8000
Internet: www.infogrames.com
6 Dec 2004:
David Ward and Jon Woods, the founders of now defunct Ocean Software, have been honoured by the UK computer and video games industry at the annual dinner, InDin on Friday night. Ward and Woods were presented with the ELSPA (Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association) Hall of Fame award, which celebrates the achievement of the UK games industry's pioneers and honours those who have helped put the UK games industry on the global map. "Many people consider Ocean Software to be pioneers who helped to transform the UK computer and video games into a real multi national business," says ELSPA director general Roger Bennett. "Together, Ward and Woods coined much of the terminology of the games industry and instigated many of its milestones, including the use of brands and franchises from traditional media and the formal processes of protecting intellectual property." Founded in the early eighties, the partnership oversaw the rapid adoption of the personal computer and established the commercial, legal and technical framework to turn the development and publishing of games software from a hobby into a business. The advent of dedicated games consoles in the late eighties saw Ocean Software go from strength to strength with titles such as Platoon and Top Gun, sport simulations Daley Thompsons Decathalon and Hypersports and classic arcade hits like Operation Wolf and Renegade. As the financial stakes were raised in the '90s and games sales expanded rapidly with the advent of Sony as a hardware competitor, Ocean Software broke all records and agreed to the (then) largest ever guarantee for a single title, Jurassic Park, which subsequently exceeded all previous sales and set the formula for the remainder of the decade. The company was finally merged into a public company which eventually bought the seminal interactive brand Atari.
Staff
Bob "Bone" Crawford (Ocean QA Technical)
?
Simon "Robo" Crawford (Ocean QA Technical)
2006 - Now works for Criterion Studios (part of EA) as QA Manager in Guildford, UK.
Responsible for the Burnout games.
Paul "Wiz" Johnson (Associate Producer for Ocean and Infogrames)
2005 - Now works for Strangelite
2005 - Responsible for IWar and Particle Systems games.
Jon Dunn
2005 - Has his own studio "Semi-Precious", which is at http://www.semiprecious.com.
Ivan Horn
2005 - At Warthog.
Martin Galway
2005 - At Digital Anvil, Texas.
James "B.J." or "Big Jim" Higgins
Steve "Catweasel" Watson
Wrote Wizball. Apparently finished by Paul Owens.